Luxury travel has always followed fashion. One decade crowns a glamorous seaside palace, and the next shifts attention to somewhere newer, shinier, or easier to reach. Airline routes change, political climates shift, and wealthy travelers chase fresh prestige. In that constant movement, even world-famous holiday escapes can quietly slip out of the spotlight.
Many of these destinations still exist today in altered form, while others survive mostly in photographs, books, or travel lore. Their stories reveal how quickly reputation can rise and fall in the hospitality world. What once attracted royalty, movie stars, and industrial tycoons can fade into niche curiosity within a generation. These seven places show how dramatic that transformation can be.
1. Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel, United States
Image Credit: John Margolies—Library of Congress—Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons.
For much of the 20th century, Grossinger’s in New York’s Catskills sat at the heart of the region’s legendary resort scene, offering a full “leave-your-car-parked” vacation mix of golf, lakeside recreation, big-name entertainment, and winter activities. At its peak, it grew into a sprawling, self-contained complex with ballrooms, clinics, and even an airstrip—exactly the kind of place where your entire week could be scheduled before you arrived.
It’s also one of the best-documented resorts of the era. The Library of Congress photo archive preserves vivid images of its mid-century look and feel, while later accounts trace how shifting travel habits and new competition pulled attention away from the Catskills circuit. After years of decline, Grossinger’s closed in 1986, and the property is now largely remembered as a landmark of a vanished holiday culture (more background here).
2. Coco Palms Resort, Hawaii, United States
Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons.
Coco Palms on Kauaʻi opened in the 1950s and quickly became one of Hawaiʻi’s most photographed luxury escapes, built around torch-lit lagoons, formal luaus, and mid-century tropical glamour. Pop culture supercharged its image when Hollywood used it as a backdrop for “Blue Hawaiʻi” scenes, helping cement the resort as part of the global postcard version of the islands. For a clean, official reference that specifically includes Coco Palms, Go Hawaiʻi’s Kauaʻi film-locations guide lists it among notable filming sites.
Then one storm changed everything. Hurricane Iniki struck in 1992 and devastated the property, forcing a closure that became far longer than anyone expected. Over the years, multiple redevelopment efforts have surfaced; recent updates and timelines are tracked publicly by the project itself (Coco Palms restoration FAQ). On the brand side, IHG later announced a Kimpton partnership tied to the site in an official release (IHG press release).
3. Haludovo Palace Hotel, Croatia
Image Credit: Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons.
Built in 1971 on the island of Krk, Haludovo Palace was one of socialist Yugoslavia’s most extravagant hospitality experiments—marble, chandeliers, and an ambition to sell Adriatic luxury on a world stage. Its most famous twist was the involvement of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, whose investment helped fuel the resort’s headline-making casino era and its reputation as an improbable jet-set playground behind the Iron Curtain.
But resorts this large need stable tourism flows and stable politics. The Yugoslav breakup and the regional shocks of the 1990s hammered investment and demand, and the property slid into deterioration. For a deeper look at the hotel’s rise-and-fall story—and why it became such a lasting symbol of the era—see Balkan Insight’s feature on Haludovo.
4. Hotel del Salto, Colombia
Image Credit:
Petruss—Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Perched beside Tequendama Falls near Bogotá, Hotel del Salto began as a statement address for Colombia’s well-heeled weekend set. Its cliffside views and French-inspired façade were designed to impress, and for decades the building played the role of “special occasion escape,” where the scenery did half the work and the dining rooms did the rest.
Over time, pollution in the Bogotá River and changing travel patterns chipped away at the area’s appeal, and the hotel era ended. What makes this site different from many abandoned icons is that it didn’t stay frozen forever: the building was restored and reopened as a museum focused on local heritage and environmental awareness, now operating as Casa Museo Tequendama (with additional visitor information also published through local government channels here).
5. Bokor Palace Hotel, Cambodia
Image Credit:
Mark Roy from Jabiru, Australia—the old casino / Wikimedia Commons
French colonial planners built Bokor Palace as a cool-altitude escape above the heat of the lowlands, a hill-station statement meant to feel like Europe transplanted into the Elephant Mountains. The hotel’s own history notes it was inaugurated on Valentine’s Day in 1925, complete with ballroom ambitions and “special trip” prestige baked into the experience (Le Bokor Palace history).
Then the 20th century did what it often does to grand projects in politically turbulent regions: it interrupted them. Conflict, instability, and long stretches of abandonment left the site with a reputation that leaned as much toward legend as luxury. Parts of the area have since been redeveloped, and the hotel itself has seen revival efforts, but the place still carries the aura of a glamorous plan that spent decades fighting reality. The surrounding protected landscape is also formally recognized as Preah Monivong “Bokor” in the World Database on Protected Areas, which helps explain why “what happens up there” is still a national conversation.
6. Pyramiden Cultural Center Hotel, Svalbard, Norway
Image Credit: Shutterstock.
Pyramiden wasn’t built as a traditional resort. It began as a Soviet mining settlement that also doubled as a carefully staged showcase town for visiting dignitaries—proof, in concrete and choreography, that comfort could exist even deep in the High Arctic. Facilities like a cultural hall, cinema, sports spaces, and guest accommodations weren’t just amenities; they were part of the pitch.
When Trust Arktikugol shut down mining operations in 1998, the settlement emptied with striking speed (Visit Svalbard background). The polar climate helped preserve interiors in a way few abandoned places manage, and guided tourism now brings small groups through the “time capsule” streets during the summer season. It’s one of the rare prestige projects where the luxury wasn’t beachfront—it was the ability to function at all in such an extreme place.
7. Varosha Resort District, Cyprus
Image Credit:
Zairon—Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Varosha in Famagusta was once the kind of Mediterranean address that made other beach towns jealous. In the 1960s and early 1970s, high-rise hotels and glossy brochures sold it as Cyprus’s glamour capital, with celebrity cachet and a coastline engineered for the good life. Restaurants, boutiques, and luxury apartments made the district feel like a self-contained, sunlit status symbol.
That image collapsed in 1974, when conflict triggered a sudden evacuation and the district was sealed off for decades. The international position on Varosha’s status has long been shaped by UN Security Council Resolution 550 (1984) and related measures, which is one reason the area became such a potent symbol of the Cyprus dispute. In recent years, limited portions have reopened under controlled access, drawing renewed attention—and renewed controversy—around what happens next (Reuters report on the reopening, plus the EU statement calling for reversals of steps taken since October 2020).
Read More
